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Writing and Accounting. Key Concept 1.3 = Importance of laws, literature, and systems of record keeping. How was writing and accounting used?. support for state authority came with the invention of writing regarded as a gift from the gods
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Writing and Accounting Key Concept 1.3 = Importance of laws, literature, and systems of record keeping
How was writing and accounting used? • support for state authority came with the invention of writing • regarded as a gift from the gods • people without writing viewed it as something magical • literacy defined elite status – enormous prestige if you had the ability to read • since writing could be learned, it allowed for some commoners to join the circle of the literate
How was writing and accounting used? • Writing was used as: • Propaganda • Celebrating the deeds of kings • Used commonly in these two from by the Egyptians and the Maya
Writing in Mesopotamia • Mesopotamia – • served as an accounting function = who paid taxes, who owed the temple, payment to workers • documentation strengthened the bureaucracy. • Calendars were precise – contained information of when rituals should be performed • Hammurabi’s law code – sets up divisions between class and gender
Can writing be controlled? • Writing, like religion, was hard to control • Gave rise to literature and philosophy… • which led to Astronomy and Mathematics • History went from oral traditions being passed down to being written Discussion Question: Writing was a major contributor to social and political growth/conflict – rulers always sought to control -why?
Different systems of record keeping: • 1. Sumer = Cuneifrom – wedge shaped, on clay tablets, represented objects, ideas, sounds. 1st written language, base for Babylonian and Assryian Script
Different systems of record keeping: • 2. Egypt = Hieroglyphs – signs that represent words and consonants, no vowels or syllables. Every day use
Different systems of record keeping: • 3. Andes = Quipu – knotted cords = used for business and administrative purposes, numerical data. Widely used in the Inca empire
Different systems of record keeping: • 4. Indus River Valley – 400 pictographic symbols – led to the Dravidan language currently spoken in southern India
Different systems of record keeping: • 5. China = oracle bones, pictographs. Inscribed on shells, bones of animals, direct ancestor of contemporary Chinese characters
Different systems of record keeping: • 6. Olmec = signs that represent sounds and words, system using dots and bards. Used to record names and deeds of rulers and shamans, battle and astronomical data.
